For energy saving reasons, it is often convenient, when a computer is not in use, that it is either: powered down; or placed in a very low power consumption state. For some applications, entirely powering down a computer is not acceptable. For example, a computer connected to a network cannot be managed from a remote site if the computer is entirely powered down.
One alternative is to have a subsystem of the computer maintained at full power for the reception of packets from the network, so that another computer on the network may issue a special "wake-up" packet, the reception of which causes the computer to become powered up.
Upon awakening, a computer which was asleep may not be in working condition as a result of a fault. Accordingly, it is desirable to test the computer in order to determine if the computer is in working condition. However, there is no way for a remote computer which is not functional to transmit a message on a network, so that a remote management computer learns the status of the broken computer.
There is needed, in the event of a failure of a component of a computer upon the awakening of the computer from a "sleep" state, a means for the computer to transmit information onto the network to another computer, so that notice of the failure is brought to the attention of the proper authorities. The proper authorities may be either a person, a management software application, or some other entity monitoring operation of computers connected to the network.